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Morbid Fascination

in 1682. Giovanni Battista Morgagni, an Italian anatomist and pathologist, is credited with making pathological anatomy an exact science. He was the first to argue that diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of a disease must be based on comprehensive knowledge of human anatomy.

Morgagni was appointed professor of medicine in 1710 and became chair of anatomy in 1715 at the University of Padua, where he established a reputation as a highly accurate anatomist. Morgagni is best known for his 1761 masterpiece, "The Seats and Causes of Diseases Investigated by Anatomy," which discusses in morbid detail some 640 dissections. Morgagni died in 1771.